No, I haven’t updated about Grandma’s trip out to see us yet, but I will! In the meantime, Claire and I went on a long hike this morning out at Standley Lake Reservoir.

As we were hiking, we saw the tail end of a brightly colored snake (maybe a fox snake?) slither off the trail. He startled us, but not like the snake we saw a couple weeks ago, and he was gone before we could even give him a second thought.

Then, we saw a coyote!

He stayed around long enough for us to get pictures.

This trail is just gorgeous. Because we went pretty early, it wasn’t too hot. Perfect!

Pano of the trail and the lake

The trail near the spillway

We’re zipping along, and Claire is behind me. All of a sudden, I hear her gasp, and by some mystical, magical move, she’s no longer right behind me; she’s completely over on the other side of the trail! How she cleared that distance in a single bound, I’ll never know. I think she thinks she’s speaking (or screaming?), but only strangled whispers are coming out!

“Snake! Snake! Snake!” she gasps, as she frantically gestures toward a clump of weeds.

Do you see him?

Go ahead. Click on the photo to zoom in. I’ll wait. No?

I didn’t see him at first either (clearly, because I’d walked right by him), but then I did!

She was like, “GET THE PICTURE AND LET’S GO. What are you doing!? Why are you so close!? WHY ARE YOU TAKING SO LONG. Ssssssnnnnnnaaaaaaaake.” (I wish I had an audio of her gaspy, strangled, gargle-y pleas.)

Funny…he looks so innocent. These tales of “He tried to eat me!” and “He whipped me with his tail!” and “He hissed at me!” may be somewhat exaggerated. Claire vehemently defends her case. (I know the feeling of being startled by a snake, so I didn’t make too much fun of her.)

Here’s the answer key

Here’s a zoomed in shot of Claire’s Little Buddy.

From then on, every branch or dead weed stalk made her twitch, which led to our favorite quote from our hike: “Jeez, you see two snakes & a coyote, and you get all jumpy.” 😀